Family tree

Whimsy's family tree This is a draft of the family tree of Whimsy Pootling, circa 1895. No painting so far this week (been ver' busy with real life), but soon I hope...

WIP of some new Chaps

Officers and Men of the Royal North Surrey Regiment

Well then - 15 Officers and men of the Royal North Surrey Regiment (affectionally known as the 'Really Not Sorry' Regiment), which (according to the 1939 film of 'The Four Feathers') takes part in Kitchener's Expedition to the Sudan in 1896. This photo must show the Regiment somewhat earlier, as they are mostly in 1879-pattern uniforms; however, their blue facings suggest that they must be from the 1880s, after the Childers Reforms of 1881 - unless, co-incidently, the Royal North Surreys used blue facings before 1881.

Captain Carruthers, doing a vital job of guarding the hats.

Group Commander for GASLIGHT purposes will be Captain Carruthers (seen in his natty and anarchronistic red jacket, even though red officers' tunics circa 1880 didn't have breast pockets like that, it should be khaki as it's of a design from around 1900).

Joining him are Lieutenant Crispin Pootling-Twelp (cousin of Whimsey Pootling) and Sergeant Bromley, and their men.

Lieutenant Pootling-Twelp and Sergeant Bromley

Men (parts at least) of the 2nd Company the Royl North Surreys...

Also pictured are Ensign Jensen (even though the rank of 'Ensign' was apparently abolished in the Cardwell reforms of the early 1870s), and Colour Sergeant Jeffries (because he looks a little like Lionel Jeffries), with their troops.

Colour Sergeant Jeffries and Ensign Jensen

Men (most of them) of the 1st Company of the Royal North Surreys...

Who the chaps in the khaki jackets are is mysterious. They were intended to be an 1880s incarnation of the Wessex Rangers (from the 1980s TV series 'Spearhead') but I later realised that the regiment was actually the Royal Wessex rangers. I'm now trying to find a non-Royal non-Guards non-Fusilier non-Rifle non-Highland Regiment, that I can use these chaps for. And then I'm going to try and work out how I got my maths wrong and ended up painting two of them as North Surreys, not in khaki as I originally intended. I may have to do another 2 khaki chaps and 6 more North Surreys to get back to where I need to be...

Not sure who these chaps are...

Latest acquisitions

Well, it's been a quiet old time of it since October, I really haven't got any painting done, but in the meantime I have done a few other things. Had Christmas and got several groovy new gaming-related things - the GASLIGHT Compendium and the Dictionary of Imaginary Places, for starters - and with a bit of spare cash I managed to accumulate, I've ordered and otherwise bought some new minis.

First up, from Baker Company, a company I didn't know anything about until the guys at the Lead Adventure Forum recommended them, come 9 British command figures (from their Zulu War range) - an eight figure command pack, and an Ensign:

These include a Glengarry-wearing officer, who will be joining my UNIT troops as their commander, Captain Yates, allowing me a bit more freedom with what I do with my Commodore Lethbridge-Stewart figure - in GASLIGHT games, he'll probably become a Group Commander, I'd think.

The package arrived extremely quickly, and even got a discount because the original shipping charge was more than the actual postage. Great service from Baker Company!

Next, from the lead-pile of the inestimable Whiskyrat, respected denizen of Lead Adventure Forum, come some minis I've been calling 'Various Victorians and Manly Chaps (Mostly Moustachioed)'. Some are moving slightly into Pulp territory, but I don't care.

 Some will see service as regulars, some civilians, and some, very likely, as militia-types, colonists resisting the counter-attacks of Martian, Venusian or Atlantean natives.

Is it just me, or does the chap in the middle have a tiny head? I may give him a pith-helmet to see what happens, but it does really look small compared to the others. No idea which manufacturer it's from; most of these figures are Foundry I think, but I don't recognise this one.

Also from Whiskyrat is a somewhat amazing Warzone 'mini' - though the term has little meaning for something this size - a 'Mercurian Maculator', also known as 'Giant Gorilla with a Gianter Gun'.

Taking the Various Victorian and the Mustachioed Manly Chap for scale, this gorilla is about 36' (getting on for 12m) tall. Trying to justify this in game terms may be a little tricky, though in some ways the gun is the easiest bit. Obviously, it's been converted from a big gun on an aether-ship. So now I have a size for aether-ship guns - about 13 or 14'. How to stat the model for GASLIGHT however is another question.

Finally, this morning my order from Brigade Games arrived - 10 British Troops in Pith-helmets and Rebreathers, and an Officer for the same with some kind of hand-held Maxim gun, who will be my first unit of Aetherines. No pics of them yet but they're the ones I posted in October as a wish-list. well, now the wish has come true!

Thanks very much to Danny at Baker Company, Whiskyrat, and staff at Brigade Games - you've all made me very happy! 

Of course, now I have to actually paint them... expect sporadic updates!

More Martian Wars troopers

As I'd painted up one of these chaps, I decided to try my hand at a few more; unfortunately, the khaki wasn't quite right, they look a little greenish compared to the chap on the extreme right of this picture,who was the first one painted. I think they're looking rather good, can't wait to get their Astro-Hungarian counterparts painted up so I can maybe get some Martian action in.

I've also been bitten by the Brigade Games bug - they have a  great VSF range, including these gems -

- link to Brigade Games here (check out the 'VSF - GASLIGHT' as well as the 'VSF - Steampunk' range, even more beauties there!)

These guys are proper Pith-Helmeted Victorian British, in breathing gear - just as I was planning for my aetherines (which are still on the modelling table...). Of course, now I'm going to get these rather than faff about building the breathing apparatus and they can go up against my Westwind Prussians-cum-Ruritanians, who also have natty breathing gear. I love it when a plan comes together...

And to inspire myself, I have to post this pic that I found trolling round the web but sadly now can't remember where it came from, otherwise I'd be saying 'hey this is _____'s groovy picture!' with a link to the artist's page and whatnot. It's a German-looking mechanical cavalryman and is most lovely - in a grimey, diesel-y sort of way...

Martian Wars trooper - test scheme

This is one of the Warzone Imperial troopers from Prince August Miniatures (link to the bag of 80 Imperial and Bauhaus minis here), which will be one of a bunch of British Space Empire troopers - slightly later than the usual 1890ish VSFery, these are for an early 20th century project around the 'Fourth Martian War' of around 1910.

Not been a lot of action for the last 2 months or so, partly because of the self-destruction of my old PC, but hopefully that will be changing as of now...

Newly-acquired forces...

Latest additions to the leadpile... quite when I shall paint them, who's to say?

Sherlock Holmes and some London Policemen from Westwind Games

Thanks to the lovely majorsmith at Lead Aventure Forums (who also supplied me with the Ironclad British Line Infantry ages ago that started this whole crazy business) for swapping these minis with me. A bit of a mixed bag here, the Westwind stuff will be perfect for those slightly more normal settings involving consulting detectives, the police, and angry London mobs (perhaps connected with the whole 'Food of the Gods' business).
























Sinister Prussians in Gasmasks from Ironclad Miniatures

The Prussians will of course be pressed into service for my Ruritanian forces, on Mars or some other sector of the Astro-Hungarian Empire. And the Sanwar too look like they'll make an interesting diversion on the Martian highways (or canals possibly). I feel a Martian campaign coming on...























Sinister 'Sanwar', Martian desert dwellers from Ironclad Miniatures

Brass Goggles pt 3

Well, it seems that I can't paint her left eye.

So, she's a bit cross-eyed and I'm going to have to put up with it. I'm quite convinced anything else I do will make it worse.

She even got a battle in last night, along with some Space Marines (whatever they are, for VSF's sake) as I used her as a stand-in for a Space Marine Librarian with Plasma Pistol and Force Weapon in a game of 40k in which my regular opponent, Lyracian, reduced me to one surviving marine and two slightly-functioning vehicles in 5 turns.

When will she see action against Rivets and Whimsy? Not anytime soon, I suspect...